My Experience With Autism In Schools

As long as I can remember I have had a connection with people, mostly children, with special needs. In fifth grade I met a girl on the playground that suffered from severe autism, her name was Sydney. After I talked to her a few times I went home one day and asked my Dad if he could find a book for me about autism. I watched every movie and read every book about autism that I could get my hands, I wanted so badly to understand Sydney. Sydney trusted me, she knew I would not make fun of her, so I listened. At times I could hardly bare to listen to the stories she would tell me of the other kids who made fun of her, I saw it happen too. I was not sure how to go about standing up for her, but I wanted to. I asked my parents what I should do and they both told me I needed to tell my teachers right away. I told one teacher and she laughed it off and said I was exaggerating and then preceded to tell me I should play with kids more like me. How was I supposed to stand up for Sydney when the teachers would not even help? …show more content…
The school allowed Sydney to integrate her classes into the regular education schedule instead of her normal special education class. Which was great, she got to have a little more freedom and independence. This also allowed her to be a target for bullying. I noticed it everyday, she was pushed down, called names, her belongings strewed across the hall from boys kicking her bookbag, and girls taunted her for her short hair and dark body hair. I could not stand it! Why could the other kids not see how bad Sydney was hurting? When my ¨friends¨ started bullying Sydney I detached from them, I started sitting with Sydney at lunch, I lost all but three of my best friends as well. I was oddly okay with that, I did not want to be friends with someone that could be that cruel to an innocent misunderstood